Super-resolution scanning display for near-eye displays

ABSTRACT

A super-resolution scanning display. The scanning display includes a light source, a conditioning assembly, and a scanning mirror assembly. The light source is configured to emit source light from a plurality of columns of emitters formed along a first dimension, including at least a first column of emitters emitting in a first band of light and a second column of emitters emitting in a second band of light which are offset along the first dimension by a fraction of an emitter width and offset along a second dimension—that is orthogonal to the first dimension—by greater than the emitter width. The conditioning assembly receives and conditions the source light. The scanning mirror assembly scans the conditioned light along the second dimension to generate a portion of an image at a first location with a resolution that is more than a first threshold number of emitters in a unit angle in the first dimension.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates generally to a near-eye display (NED), and inparticular, to scanning displays with super-resolution for NEDs.

Conventional displays are typically a two dimensional (2D) grid ofemitters. In conventional 2D displays, the resolution is effectively thesize (diameter) of the source ‘emitter’—which would be scaled by thefocal length into angular space for a projector display or NEDconfiguration. However, a grid arrangement of emitters does not alwaysprovide optimal resolution.

SUMMARY

This disclosure describes a scanning display. The scanning displaycomprises a light source and an optics system. The optics systemincludes at least a conditioning assembly and a scanning mirrorassembly. The light source is configured to emit source light from aplurality of columns of emitters (e.g., light emitting diode (LED),micro light emitting diode, vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser(VCSEL), photonics integrated circuit (PIC) output, SLED, VCSEL withphosphors, etc.) formed along a first dimension, with each column ofemitters comprising one or more emitters arranged along a seconddimension—orthogonal to the first dimension. The plurality of columns ofemitters includes at least a first column of emitters configured to emitin a first band of light and a second column of emitters configured toemit in a second band of light. The conditioning assembly receives thesource light and conditions (e.g., collimates, adjust apparent emitteroffset, etc.) the source light.

In some embodiments, the first column of emitters and the second columnof emitters are offset along the first dimension by a fraction of anemitter width (e.g., width of an area of the emission surface of theemitter) and offset along a second dimension—that is orthogonal to thefirst dimension—by a distance that is greater than the emitter width. Inalternate embodiments or in addition to having an actual offset inemitter spacing, the conditioning assembly is configured to conditionthe source light such that conditioned light from the first column ofemitters is offset from conditioned light of the second column ofemitters in the first dimension by a fraction of an emitter width.

The scanning mirror assembly scans the conditioned light along thesecond dimension to generate a portion of an image at a first location.The portion of the image is generated from a first number of activeemitters per unit solid angle which can be defined as the resolution ofthe portion of the image. The first number of active emitters is greaterthan that would occur using, e.g., emitters arranged in a densely packedgrid. Accordingly, a perceived resolution of the portion of the image isimproved as the perceived resolution is less than the emitter width, andthis improvement in perceived resolution is referred to assuper-resolution. The improvement in resolution referring tosuper-resolution of the portion of the image has a resolution thatincludes more than a threshold of active emitters per unit solid angle.The first location can be an entrance to an output waveguide of a NEDthat operates in an artificial reality environment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a near-eye-display (NED), in accordancewith one or more embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of an eyewear of the NED illustrated inFIG. 1, in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an isometric view of a waveguide assembly, inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram overviewing a super-resolution scanningdisplay with a controller, in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 4B illustrates the super-resolution scanning display and thecontroller of FIG. 4A, in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a planar view of a portion of a light source for thesuper-resolution scanning display of FIG. 4A, in accordance with one ormore embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a planar view of another embodiment of a portion of a lightsource for the super-resolution scanning display of FIG. 4A, inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

The figures depict embodiments of the present disclosure for purposes ofillustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize fromthe following description that alternative embodiments of the structuresand methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing fromthe principles, or benefits touted, of the disclosure described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Configuration Overview

Embodiments of the invention may include or be implemented inconjunction with an artificial reality system. Artificial reality is aform of reality that has been adjusted in some manner beforepresentation to a user, which may include, e.g., a virtual reality (VR),an augmented reality (AR), a mixed reality (MR), a hybrid reality, orsome combination and/or derivatives thereof. Artificial reality contentmay include completely generated content or generated content combinedwith captured (e.g., real-world) content. The artificial reality contentmay include video, audio, haptic sensation, or some combination thereof,and any of which may be presented in a single channel or in multiplechannels (such as stereo video that produces a three-dimensional effectto the viewer). Additionally, in some embodiments, artificial realitymay also be associated with applications, products, accessories,services, or some combination thereof, that are used to, e.g., createcontent in an artificial reality and/or are otherwise used in (e.g.,perform activities in) an artificial reality. The artificial realitysystem that provides the artificial reality content may be implementedon various platforms, including a near-eye display (NED) connected to ahost computer system, a standalone NED, a mobile device or computingsystem, or any other hardware platform capable of providing artificialreality content to one or more viewers.

The NED includes at least a frame and a display. The NED of theartificial reality system presents visual content (e.g., generatedvisual content, real-world visual content, or some combination thereof)via the display to a wearing user. The artificial reality system canprovide additional content (e.g., audio, haptic sensations, etc.)through the NED or other various devices (e.g., applications, processes,devices, accessories, etc.) in tandem with the visual content from theNED for constructing an immersive artificial reality environment. Someembodiments of the display of the NED comprises at least a waveguideassembly, which includes a super-resolution scanning display and anoutput waveguide. Other embodiments of the display of the NED comprise acombiner assembly to direct light from a super-resolution scanningdisplay. Various combiner assemblies may include, but not limited to, afree-space combiner, polarized beam combiner, grating based combiner,including volume Bragg gratings, or a holographic combiner. Thesuper-resolution scanning display generates image light insuper-resolution corresponding to visual content rendered by the NED ofthe artificial reality system. In embodiments of the NED with the outputwaveguide, the output waveguide directs the image light from thesuper-resolution scanning display towards the wearing user.

The super-resolution scanning display includes a light source and anoptics system, which includes a conditioning assembly and a scanningmirror assembly. The light source of the scanning display is an array ofemitters, where each line of emitters corresponds to a respective linein an image ultimately displayed to the wearing user. Note that thearray of emitters is substantially longer in one dimension than it is inan orthogonal (i.e., scanning) dimension. For example, 100s-1000s ofemitters may be linearly arranged in a row, but there may only be ˜10rows in the array of emitters. The emitter array is comprised of aplurality of columns of emitters formed along a first dimension arrangedalong a second dimension (i.e., the scanning dimension)—orthogonal tothe first dimension. In some embodiments, adjacent columns of emittersare offset along the first dimension by a fraction of an emitter width(e.g., width of an area of the emission surface of the emitter) andoffset along the second dimension by a distance that is greater than theemitter width. In alternate embodiments or in addition to having anactual offset in emitter spacing, the conditioning assembly isconfigured to condition the source light such that conditioned lightfrom the first column of emitters is offset from conditioned light ofthe second column of emitters in the first dimension by a fraction of anemitter width. The scanning mirror assembly includes one or morescanning mirrors that scan along at least the second dimension (and insome cases also the first dimension) to redirect the conditioned light.For example, the scanning mirror assembly can implement scanningmirror(s) to scan in 0, 1, or 2 moving dimensions. In additionalembodiments, the scanning mirror assembly scans the conditioned lightsuch that there is a resulting offset between adjacent rows of imagelight in the second dimension which is less than the emitter width. Thesuper-resolution scanning display generates image light withsuper-resolution in at least the first dimension based on the emitterspacing. Super-resolution in at least the first dimension has more thana threshold number of active emitters per unit solid angle (e.g., morethan 1 active emitter per 2 arcminutes of solid angle). In furtherembodiments, the super-resolution scanning display generates image lightwith super-resolution not only in the first dimension but also in thesecond dimension based on the scanning by the scanning mirror assembly.In these additional embodiments, super-resolution in the seconddimension has more than a threshold number of active emitters per unitsolid angle (e.g., more than 1 active emitter per 2 arcminutes of solidangle). The super-resolution scanning display may then direct imagelight onto an entrance location of the output waveguide to direct theimage light to the wearing user.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a near-eye-display (NED) 100 (alsoreferred to as a Head-Mounted Display (HMD)), in accordance with one ormore embodiments. The NED 100 presents media to a user. Examples ofmedia presented by the NED 100 include at least one of images, video,audio, or some combination thereof. In some embodiments, audio ispresented via an external device (e.g., speakers and/or headphones) thatreceives audio information from the NED 100, a console (not shown), orboth, and presents audio data based on the audio information. The NED100 is generally configured to operate as an artificial reality NED. Insome embodiments the NED 100 may augment views of a physical, real-worldenvironment with computer-generated elements (e.g., images, video,sound, etc.).

The NED 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes a frame 105 and a display 110. Theframe 105 includes one or more optical elements which together displaymedia to users. The display 110 is configured for users to see thecontent presented by the NED 100. As discussed below in conjunction withFIGS. 2 & 3, the display 110 includes at least one waveguide assemblyincluding a super-resolution scanning display to generate image light topresent media to an eye of the user. The super-resolution scanningdisplay includes a light source and an optics system. Other embodimentsof the display 110 include at least one combiner assembly for directingimage light from the super-resolution scanning display.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view 200 of the NED 100 illustrated in FIG.1, in accordance with one or more embodiments. The cross sectional view200 illustrates at least one waveguide assembly 210 and an eye box 230.The eye box 230 is a location where the eye 220 is positioned when auser wears the NED 100. In some embodiments, the frame 105 may representa frame of eye-wear glasses. For purposes of illustration, FIG. 2 showsthe cross section 200 associated with a single eye 220 and a singlewaveguide assembly 210, but in alternative embodiments not shown in thisillustration, another waveguide assembly which is separate from thewaveguide assembly 210, provides image light to another eye of the user.

The waveguide assembly 210, as illustrated below in FIG. 2, isconfigured to direct the image light to the eye 220 through the eye box230. The waveguide assembly 210 may be composed of one or more materials(e.g., plastic, glass, etc.) with one or more refractive indices thateffectively minimize the weight and couple an overlaid or presentedfield of view (hereinafter abbreviated as ‘FOV’) of the NED 100. Inalternate configurations, the NED 100 includes one or more opticalelements between the waveguide assembly 210 and the eye 220. The opticalelements may act to, e.g., correct aberrations in image light emittedfrom the waveguide assembly 210, magnify image light emitted from thewaveguide assembly 210, some other optical adjustment of image lightemitted from the waveguide assembly 210, or some combination thereof.The example for optical elements may include an aperture, a Fresnellens, a convex lens, a concave lens, a filter, a reflector, or any othersuitable optical element that affects image light.

The waveguide assembly 210 includes a super-resolution scanning displayto generate image light with super-resolution and an output waveguide todirect image light with super-resolution to the user's eyes. Thesuper-resolution scanning display includes a light source and an opticssystem, with the optics system including a conditioning assembly and ascanning mirror assembly. Combinations of the light source, theconditioning assembly, and the scanning mirror assembly contribute ingenerating image light with super-resolution or effectively an increasednumber of active emitters per unit solid angle. In one embodiment, thesuper-resolution image light has 1 arcminute per active emitter in afirst direction. In another embodiment, the super-resolution image lighthas 2 arcminutes per active emitter in a second direction. Embodimentsof super-resolution scanning displays will be described further inconjunction with FIGS. 3-6.

FIG. 3 illustrates an isometric view of a waveguide assembly 300, inaccordance with one or more embodiments. In some embodiments, thewaveguide assembly 300 is a component (e.g., waveguide assembly 210) ofthe NED 100. In alternate embodiments, the waveguide assembly 300 ispart of some other NED, or other system that displays image light to aparticular location.

The waveguide assembly 300 includes a super-resolution scanning display310, an output waveguide 320, and a controller 330. For purposes ofillustration, FIG. 3 shows the waveguide assembly 300 associated with asingle eye 220, but in some embodiments, another waveguide assemblyseparate (or partially separate) from the waveguide assembly 300,provides image light to another eye of the user. In a partially separatesystem, one or more components may be shared between waveguideassemblies for each eye.

The super-resolution scanning display 310 generates super-resolutionimage light 355. The super-resolution scanning display 310 includes alight source 340 and an optics system 345. The light source 340 is anoptical component that generates light using a plurality of emittersplaced in an array. In some embodiments, the light source 340 has theplurality of emitters arranged with columns of emitters which are offsetby a fraction of an emitter width in a first dimension and offset by atleast an emitter width in a second dimension—orthogonal to the firstdimension. The fractional offset in columns of emitters influencesresolution of super-resolution image light 355 emitted by thesuper-resolution scanning display 310 as the fractional offset providesan increase in active emitters in a unit angle in one dimension. In someconfigurations, a portion of the light source 340 generates a first bandof wavelengths and another portion of the light source 340 generates asecond band of wavelengths. Embodiments of the light source 340 will befurther described in FIGS. 4-6.

The optics system 345 performs a set of optical processes, including,but not restricted to, focusing, combining, collimating, transforming,conditioning, and scanning processes on the image light generated by thelight source 340. The optics system 345 includes a conditioning assemblyand a scanning mirror assembly which are not illustrated in FIG. 3. Inadditional embodiments, the scanning mirror assembly scans conditionedlight such that the scanned light is offset or further offset in one orboth dimensions. For example, scanned conditioned light is offset in thefirst dimension and/or the second dimension by a fraction of the emitterwidth, thus influencing resolution of super-resolution image light 355in the first dimension and/or the second dimension. Embodiments of theconditioning assembly and the scanning mirror assembly will be furtherdescribed in FIGS. 4-6. The super-resolution scanning display 310generates and outputs super-resolution image light 355 withsuper-resolution—influenced by at least one of the light source 340, theconditioning assembly, and the scanning mirror assembly—to one or morecoupling elements 350 of the output waveguide 320.

The output waveguide 320 is an optical waveguide that outputs images tothe eye 220 of the user. The output waveguide 320 receives thesuper-resolution image light 355 at one or more coupling elements 350,and guides the received input super-resolution image light 355 to one ormore decoupling elements 360. In some embodiments, the one or morecoupling elements 350 couple the super-resolution image light 355 fromthe super-resolution scanning display 310 into the output waveguide 320.The one or more coupling elements 350 may include, e.g., an inputsurface, a diffraction grating, a holographic grating, some otherelement that couples the super-resolution image light 355 into theoutput waveguide 320, or some combination thereof. For example, inembodiments where the coupling elements 350 include a diffractiongrating, the pitch of the diffraction grating is chosen such that totalinternal reflection occurs as a result, and the super-resolution imagelight 355 propagates internally toward the one or more decouplingelements 360. In one example, the pitch of the diffraction grating maybe in the range of 300 nm to 600 nm.

The one or more decoupling elements 360 decouple the total internallyreflected image light from the output waveguide 320. The one or moredecoupling elements 360 may include, e.g., a diffraction grating, avolume Bragg grating, a holographic grating, some other element thatdecouples image light out of the output waveguide 320, or somecombination thereof. For example, in embodiments where the one or moredecoupling elements 360 include a diffraction grating, the pitch of thediffraction grating is chosen to cause incident image light to exit theoutput waveguide 320. An orientation and position of the light exitingfrom the output waveguide 320 is controlled by changing an orientationand position of the super-resolution image light 355 entering the one ormore coupling elements 350. For example, the pitch of the diffractiongrating may be in the range of 300 nm to 600 nm.

The output waveguide 320 may be composed of one or more materials thatfacilitate total internal reflection of the super-resolution image light355. The output waveguide 320 may be composed of e.g., plastic, glass,or polymers, or some combination thereof. The output waveguide 320 has arelatively small form factor. For example, the output waveguide 320 maybe approximately 50 mm wide along x-dimension, 40 mm long alongy-dimension and 0.5-2.0 mm thick along z-dimension.

The controller 330 controls the scanning operations of thesuper-resolution scanning display 310. The controller 330 determinesscanning instructions for the super-resolution scanning display 310based at least on the one or more display instructions. Displayinstructions are instructions to render one or more images. In someembodiments, display instructions may simply be an image file (e.g.,bitmap). The display instructions may be received from, e.g., a consoleof a NED system (not shown here). Scanning instructions are instructionsused by the super-resolution scanning display 310 to generatesuper-resolution image light 355. The scanning instructions may include,e.g., a type of a source of image light (e.g., monochromatic,polychromatic), a scanning rate, an orientation of a scanning apparatus,one or more illumination parameters (described below with reference toFIG. 4A), or some combination thereof. The controller 330 includes acombination of hardware, software, and/or firmware not shown here so asnot to obscure other aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram 400 overviewing a super-resolution scanningdisplay 410 with a controller 430, in accordance with one or moreembodiments. The super-resolution scanning display 410 is an embodimentof the super-resolution scanning display 310, it includes a light source440 and an optics system 450. The light source 340 is an embodiment ofthe light source 440; the optics system 345 is an embodiment of theoptics system 450; and the controller 330 is an embodiment of thecontroller 440.

The super-resolution scanning display 410 generates super-resolutionimage light 445 in accordance with scanning instructions from thecontroller 430. The super-resolution scanning display 410 includes alight source 440 and an optics system 450. The light source 440 is asource of light that generates the desired wavelength, numericalaperture, emission size, and other characteristics needed in the sourcelight 415. The optics system 450 comprises at least a conditioningassembly 470 and a scanning mirror assembly 480. The conditioningassembly 470 conditions the source light 415 into conditioned light 435,and the scanning mirror assembly 480 scans the conditioned light 435.The super-resolution scanning display 410 generates super-resolutionimage light 445 with super-resolution in at least one dimensiondependent on at least the light source 440. Additionally thesuper-resolution in the one dimension may depend on one of theconditioning assembly 470 and the scanning mirror assembly 480. Thesuper-resolution image light 445 may be coupled to an entrance of anoutput waveguide (e.g., one or more coupling elements 350 of the outputwaveguide 320 of FIG. 3).

The light source 440 emits light in accordance with one or moreillumination parameters received from the controller 430. Anillumination parameter is an instruction used by the light source 440 togenerate light. An illumination parameter may include, e.g., sourcewavelength, pulse rate, pulse amplitude, beam type (continuous orpulsed), other parameter(s) that affect the emitted light, or somecombination thereof.

The light source 440 comprises a plurality of emitters, wherein eachemitter may be, e.g., a superluminous LED, a laser diode, a verticalcavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL), a light emitting diode (LED), anorganic LED (OLED), a microLED, a tunable laser, or some other lightsource that emits coherent to non-coherent light. The emitters of thelight source 440 emit light in a visible band (e.g., from about 390 nmto 700 nm), and they may emit light in accordance with one or moreillumination parameters. In some embodiments, the super-resolutionscanning display 410 comprises multiple light sources each with its ownarray of emitters emitting light in a distinct wavelength such that whenscanned, light emitted from each of the light sources are overlapped toproduce various wavelengths in a spectrum. Each emitter of the lightsource 440 comprises an emission surface from which a portion of sourcelight is emitted. The emission surface may be identical for all emittersor may vary between emitters. An emitter width is a width of an area ofthe emission surface. The emission surface may have different shapes(e.g., circular, hexagonal, etc.). For example, an emitter which is amicroLED with a circular emission surface may have an emitter width offive (5) micrometers characterized as a diameter of the circularemission surface.

The plurality of emitters of the light source 440 is arranged as anarray of emitters. The array of emitters comprises a plurality ofcolumns of emitters formed along a first dimension, wherein each columnof emitters is a one-dimensional linear array of emitters arranged alonga second dimension—orthogonal to the first dimension. There aresubstantially more columns of emitters than there are emitters in eachcolumn of emitters, e.g., there are ˜1000 columns of emitters with eachcolumn of emitters having ˜10 emitters. Each column of emitterscorresponds to a respective column in an image ultimately displayed tothe user. Resolution of the source light 415 in the first dimensiondepends at least in part on an offset between adjacent columns ofemitters. The arrangement of the array of emitters of the light source440 thereby influences resolution of the super-resolution image light445 generated by the super-resolution scanning display 410.

In one or more embodiments, the light source 440 with its array ofemitters is arranged with offsets between adjacent columns of emitterswhich contribute to generating super-resolution image light 445. Theseoffsets between adjacent columns include a first offset by a fraction ofthe emitter width in the first dimension and a second offset by at leastthe emitter width in the second dimension. The first offset by thefraction of the emitter width in the first dimension effectivelyimproves resolution of the source light 415. This fractional offsetarrangement of adjacent columns of emitters of the light source 440thereby contributes to providing super-resolution to thesuper-resolution image light 445 emitted by the super-resolutionscanning display 410.

In additional embodiments, the light source 440 comprises additionalcomponents (e.g., drivers, phantom memory, heat sinks, etc.). In one ormore embodiments, the light source 440 comprises additional components(e.g., a plurality of drivers) that are electrically coupled to thearray of emitters. And one or more of these additional components (e.g.,a driver for each emitter) are around emitters in a column of emitters.The drivers provide circuitry for controlling the array of emitters. Theplurality of drivers relay illumination parameters received from thecontroller 430 to electrically tune each emitter in the array ofemitters. The phantom memory act as temporary storage medium whenscanning. The heat sinks help dissipate heat from the electricalcircuitry.

The conditioning assembly 470 conditions source light 415 from the lightsource 440. Conditioning the source light 415 may include, e.g.,expanding, collimating, focusing, distorting emitter spacing,polarizing, adjusting orientation for an apparent location of anemitter, correcting for one or more optical errors (e.g., fieldcurvature, chromatic aberration), some other adjustment of the light, orsome combination thereof. The conditioning assembly 470 comprises one ormore optical components (e.g., lenses, mirrors, apertures, gratings,etc.).

In one or more embodiments, the conditioning assembly 470 conditions thesource light 415 so as to produce offsets between adjacent columns ofconditioned light 435 corresponding to adjacent columns of source light415 which contribute to the super-resolution image light 445. Theconditioning which influences resolution of the super-resolution imagelight 445 can be defined as a field dependent magnification change whichmay comprise at least some amount of focusing, some amount of distortingemitter spacing, some amount of adjusting an apparent location of theemitter, or some combination thereof.

In one embodiment, the field dependent magnification change may producedistortions in emitter spacing. In additional configurations, the fielddependent magnification may reduce emitter width through focusing thesource light. The resulting array of emitters of the conditioned light435 comprise a plurality of columns of emitters formed along a firstdimension with adjacent columns of emitters having a first offset in thefirst dimension by a fraction of the emitter width. With a similarprinciple as that described for the light source 440, the distortion inemitter spacing of adjacent columns in the first dimension—alone or incombination with reduction of emitter width—effectively improvesresolution of the conditioned light 435 in the first dimension.

The scanning mirror assembly 480 includes one or more optical elementsthat redirect light via one or more reflective portions of the scanningmirror assembly 480. Where the light is redirected toward is based onspecific orientations of the one or more reflective portions. The one ormore reflective portions of the scanning assembly may be planar orcurved (e.g., spherical, parabolic, concave, convex, cylindrical, etc.).The scanning mirror assembly 480 scans along at least one dimension ofthe emitter array with the one dimension of the emitter array beingsubstantially smaller. In some embodiments, the scanning mirror assembly480 includes a single scanning mirror that is configured to scan in atleast the second dimension (i.e., the dimension along which emitters ina column of emitters are formed). For example, the conditioned light 435comprises a plurality of rows of emitters, wherein a row of emitters issubstantially longer than a column of emitters, which are scannedsuccessively row by row. In other embodiments, the scanning mirrorassembly 480 may raster scan (horizontally or vertically depending onscanning direction). These other embodiments of the scanning mirrorassembly 480 may utilize additional scanning mirrors to scan in 0, 1, or2 moving dimensions.

In one or more embodiments, the scanning mirror assembly 480 produces,in scanning, offsets between linear arrays of emitters in the emitterarray. Some embodiments utilize one or more curved reflective portionsto achieve the offsets. Other embodiments utilize scanning techniques toachieve the offsets. In some embodiments, the scanning mirror assembly480 performs a translational offset between periodic linear emitterarrays along a scan dimension such that periodic linear emitter arraysare offset by a fraction of the emitter width. For example, the scanningmirror assembly 480 is offsetting scanned rows of emitters, such thatwithin a scanned column of emitters, there is an offset between adjacentemitters in the column of emitters which is a fraction of the emitterwidth. The reduction in emitter spacing between adjacent emitters in thecolumns of emitters to be the fraction of the emitter width providessuper-resolution in the scanned dimension. In additional embodiments,the scanning mirror assembly 480 can produce an offset in two orthogonaldimensions of the scanned array such that both dimensions have offsetsof fractions of the emitter width. With the same principle discussedabove, the scanning array would have effectively super-resolution in twodimensions. The super-resolution scanning display 410 outputssuper-resolution image light 445 in at least one dimension (e.g., thefirst dimension along which the columns of emitters are formed) which isbased at least in part on one of emitter spacing by the light source 440and emitter spacing as conditioned by the conditioning assembly 470.Additionally, the super-resolution image light 445 may besuper-resolution in a second dimension, wherein the resolution is basedat least in part on at least one of emitter spacing by the light source440, the controller 430 timing output, and the scanning mirror assembly480. The super-resolution image light 445 may couple to an outputwaveguide, e.g., the output waveguide 320 as described above withreference to FIG. 3.

In additional embodiments, varying portions of the super-resolutionimage light 445 have varying resolutions. In these embodiments, at leasta first portion of the super-resolution image light 445 has a firstresolution and a second portion of the super-resolution image light 445has a second resolution. One or more of the first resolution and thesecond resolution is super-resolution. The first resolution is based atleast in part on a first offset of emitter spacing of the first portionof the super-resolution image light 445. The second resolution is basedat least in part on a second offset of emitter spacing of the secondportion of the super-resolution image light 445. For example, a centerregion of the super-resolution image light 445 is super-resolutionwhereas a peripheral region of the super-resolution image light 445 isnot super-resolution.

The controller 430 controls the light source 440 and the optics system450. The controller 430 takes content for display, and divides thecontent into discrete sections. The controller 430 instructs the lightsource 440 to sequentially present the discrete sections usingindividual emitters corresponding to a respective column in an imageultimately displayed to the user. The controller 430 instructs one orboth of the conditioning assembly 470 and the scanning mirror assembly480—of the optics system 450—to condition and/or scan the presenteddiscrete sections. The controller 430 can determine to what extent theconditioning assembly 470 and/or the scanning display 480 mighteffectively distort emitter spacing of discrete sections, such thatvarying discrete sections would have varying resolutions. The controller430 controls the optics system 450 to direct the discrete sections ofthe super-resolution image light 445 to different areas, e.g., differentportions of one or more coupling elements 350 of the output waveguide320. Accordingly, at the eye box of the output waveguide, each discreteportion is presented in a different location. While each discretesection is presented at different times, the presentation and scanningof the discrete sections occurs fast enough such that a user's eyeintegrates the different sections into a single image or series ofimages. The controller 430 also provides the illumination parameters tothe light source 440. Thus the controller 430 may control eachindividual emitter of the light source 440.

In comparison with conventional scanning displays, the super-resolutionscanning display 410 provides image light with super-resolution. Asdiscussed prior, conventional scanning displays provide image lightwithout super-resolution. These conventional displays utilize grid-likearrangements of emitters as the light source; however, the grid-likearrangement limits resolution by requiring the emitter spacing to begreater than the emitter width. In addition, these grid architectureshave inherent MTF nulls at the Nyquist frequency, due to the nature of adiscrete sample of an analog scene. For instance, you can represent fullblack followed by full white/output only when it is perfectly alignedwith the grid, otherwise gray results with no or very low contrast.However, the super-resolution scanning display 410 offsets emitters inthe light source 440 and/or emitters through the conditioning assembly470 and/or the scanning mirror assembly 480. The offsets prove capableof breaking through into super-resolution. There is a limitation ofclose packing of emitters such that a reduced offset in emitter spacingin one dimension, thereby limits offset in emitter spacing in anorthogonal dimension. To compensate for this limitation in emitterspacing in the orthogonal dimension, the super-resolution scanningdisplay 410 can increase emitter brightness through illuminationparameters. Additionally, the super-resolution scanning display 410 canutilize the conditioning assembly 470 and/or the scanning mirrorassembly to effectively reduce the offset in the orthogonal dimension inprocessing the source light 415.

FIG. 4B illustrates the super-resolution scanning display 410 and thecontroller 430 of FIG. 4A, in accordance with one or more embodiments.The super-resolution scanning display 410 generates light in accordancewith scanning instructions from the controller 430. The light source440, as noted above, is substantially longer along one dimension. In oneor more embodiments, the light source 440 comprises a plurality ofcolumns of emitters with adjacent columns offset in the substantiallylonger dimension by a fraction of the emitter width. The offset in theseone or more embodiments effectively produces source light 415 withsuper-resolution, in at least the substantially longer dimension. Theoptics system 450 receives the source light 415 and with theconditioning assembly 470 converts the source light 415 into conditionedlight 435. In one or more embodiments, the conditioning assembly 470conditions the source light 415 to produce conditioned light 435 whichcomprises a plurality of columns of emitters with adjacent columns ofemitters offset. The offset in these one or more embodiments effectivelyproduces conditioned light 435 with super-resolution, in at least onedimension. The conditioned light 435 is then scanned by the scanningmirror assembly 480. In one or more embodiments, the scanning mirrorassembly 480 contributes to improving resolution of scanned light. Thesuper-resolution scanning display 410 emits the super-resolution imagelight 445 with super-resolution, in one or more dimensions, based atleast in part on one of emitter spacing by the light source 440, emitterspacing as a result of conditioning by the conditioning assembly 470,the controller 430 timing output, and emitter spacing as a result ofscanning by the scanning mirror assembly 480. Although FIG. 4B presentsa physical representation of the super-resolution scanning display 410with its components in operation together, FIG. 4B is simply anillustrative demonstration of the principles discussed with regards toFIG. 4A.

FIG. 5 is a planar view of a portion 500 of a light source 510 for thesuper-resolution scanning display 410 of FIG. 4A, in accordance with oneor more embodiments. The light source 510 is an embodiment of the lightsource 440 of FIG. 4A. The light source 510 comprises an array ofemitters that include a plurality of columns of emitters. The pluralityof columns of emitters are formed along a first dimension; in thisillustration, the columns of emitters are formed along the X dimension(e.g., the first dimension). Each column of emitters includes aplurality of emitters arranged along the Y dimension (e.g., the seconddimension). In this embodiment, the plurality of columns of emittersincludes at least a first column 520, a second column 525, a thirdcolumn 530, and a fourth column 535 of emitters. In this embodiment,each column of emitters comprises at least three emitters with emittersin a column of emitters spaced out by more than an emitter width. Moregenerally, each column of emitters comprises as least two emitters. Asan example of what was mentioned above, there are substantially morecolumns of emitters than rows of emitters in this illustration (e.g.,˜100s to 1000s of columns and ˜10 rows). Between adjacent columns ofemitters there is a first offset in the positive X dimension by afraction of the emitter width (relating to the first offset along thefirst dimension as described in FIG. 4A) and a second offset in anegative Y dimension—orthogonal to the X dimension—by at least theemitter width (relating to the second offset along the second dimensionas described in FIG. 4A). A portion of an image scanned by a scanningdisplay with the light source 510 as a component has super-resolution inat least the X dimension. Additionally, the portion of the image scannedby the scanning display with the light source 510 has super-resolutionin the Y dimension as achieved with timing control by the controller.

The emitters of the plurality of columns of emitters emit source light.The emitters comprise an emission surface from which source light isemitted towards a conditioning assembly, e.g., the conditioning assembly470 of FIG. 4A. In this illustration, the emission surface of theemitters is circular. As such the emitter width may be defined as theemission surface's diameter represented as de. Emitters in a column ofemitters can emit light at a same wavelength or at varying wavelengths.Similarly in between columns of emitters, columns of emitters can emitlight at a same wavelength or at varying wavelengths.

The plurality of columns of emitters are arranged such that there is thefirst offset in the X dimension and the second offset in the Ydimension. In this illustration, between adjacent columns of emitters ofthe light source 510, the first offset in the positive X dimension is bya half of the emitter width, e.g., a half of de. Additionally, thesecond offset in the negative Y dimension is at least the emitter width.In this example illustration, the second offset is greater than theemitter width. In other embodiments, the first offset is anotherfraction of the emitter width, e.g., three-fourths the emitter width,two-thirds the emitter width, one-third the emitter width, one-fourththe emitter width, or some other fraction of the emitter width. In theseembodiments, the second offset continues for adjacent columns ofemitters with some periodicity. As seen by the illustration, the secondoffset occurs between the first column 520 and the second column 525,between the second column 525 and the third column 530, and between thethird column 530 and the fourth column 535. Then after the fourth column535, the next column of emitters has no offset in the Y dimension fromthe first column 520, thus restarting the second offset between adjacentcolumns. In this illustration, the second offset is periodic every fourcolumns of emitters. In other embodiments, the periodicity of the secondoffset is different, e.g., the second offset is periodic every 3columns, every 5 columns, every 6 columns, etc. The source light in theX dimension produced by the light source 510 has super-resolution basedin part on the first offset in the X dimension. This improvement inresolution in at least the X dimension (e.g., first dimension) due tothe first offset can be combined with resolution improvement throughconditioning of the source light by a conditioning assembly (e.g., theconditioning assembly 470) which will be discussed in detail in FIG. 6.In tandem, the light source 510 and the conditioning assembly of thescanning display can provide image light with super-resolution in atleast the X dimension (e.g., first dimension) with potential forsuper-resolution in the Y dimension as well (e.g., second dimension).

FIG. 6 is a planar view of a portion 600 of a light source 610 for thesuper-resolution scanning display of FIG. 4A, in accordance with one ormore embodiments. The light source 610 is an embodiment of the lightsource 440 of FIG. 4A. The light source 610 comprises an array ofemitters that include a plurality of columns of emitters. The pluralityof columns of emitters are formed along a first dimension—in thisillustration, the columns of emitters are formed along the X′ dimension(e.g., the first dimension). Each column of emitters includes aplurality of emitters arranged along the Y′ dimension (e.g., the seconddimension). In this embodiment, the plurality of columns of emittersincludes at least a first column 620, a second column 625, a thirdcolumn 630, and a fourth column 635 of emitters. In this illustration,each column of emitters comprises three emitters, but more generallyembodiments of the light source 440 may comprise at least two emittersper column of emitters. As an example of what was mentioned above, thereare substantially more columns of emitters than rows of emitters in thisillustration. Between adjacent columns of emitters there is a firstoffset in the X′ dimension by a fraction of the emitter width (relatingto the first offset along the first dimension as described in FIG. 4A).In this embodiment, adjacent columns of emitters are offset by a secondoffset in the Y′ dimension by more than the emitter width such that theadjacent columns do not overlap in the Y′ dimension. In one or moreimplementations, a scanning display scans a portion of an image with thelight source 610 such that the portion of the image has super-resolutionin at least the X′ dimension.

The emitters of the plurality of columns of emitters emit source light.The emitters comprise an emission surface from which source light isemitted towards a conditioning assembly, e.g., the conditioning assembly470 of FIG. 4A. In this illustration, the emission surface of theemitters is circular. As such the emitter width may be defined as theemission surface's diameter represented as de. Emitters in a column ofemitters can emit light at a same wavelength or at varying wavelengths.Similarly in between columns of emitters, columns of emitters can emitlight at a same wavelength or at varying wavelengths.

The plurality of columns of emitters are arranged such that there is thefirst offset in the X′ dimension and the second offset in the Y′dimension. In this illustration, between adjacent columns of emitters ofthe light source 510, the first offset in the positive X′ dimension isby a fraction of the emitter width. The second offset in the Y′dimension results in a separating of the plurality of columns ofemitters. The separation creates a first subset of columns of emitterswith odd numbered columns of emitters, e.g., inclusive of the firstcolumn 620, the third column 630, the fifth column (not labeled), etc.,and a second subset of columns of emitters with even numbered columns ofemitters, e.g., inclusive of the second column 625, the fourth column635, the sixth column (not labeled), etc. The separation of odd and evennumbered columns allows for further decrease in the first offset in theX′ dimension between adjacent columns, providing potential for furtherimprovements in resolution in at least the X′ dimension (e.g., firstdimension). A scanning mirror assembly utilized in conjunction with thelight source 610 could scan the plurality of columns of emitters suchthat odd and even numbered columns are realigned eliminating the secondoffset in the Y′ dimension of the scanned light. As the odd and evennumbered columns are realigned, a first row 640 of scanned light fromthe odd numbered columns and a second row 645 of scanned light from theeven numbered columns would become collinear. The scanned light from thefirst row 640 and the second row 645 would have super-resolution in theX′ dimension.

Additional Configuration Information

The foregoing description of the embodiments of the disclosure has beenpresented for the purpose of illustration; it is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed.Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the abovedisclosure.

Some portions of this description describe the embodiments of thedisclosure in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations ofoperations on information. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are commonly used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively toothers skilled in the art. These operations, while describedfunctionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to beimplemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits,microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient attimes, to refer to these arrangements of operations as modules, withoutloss of generality. The described operations and their associatedmodules may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware, or anycombinations thereof.

Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may beperformed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules,alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, asoftware module is implemented with a computer program productcomprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code,which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or allof the steps, operations, or processes described.

Embodiments of the disclosure may also relate to an apparatus forperforming the operations herein. This apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the required purposes, and/or it may comprise ageneral-purpose computing device selectively activated or reconfiguredby a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer programmay be stored in a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storagemedium, or any type of media suitable for storing electronicinstructions, which may be coupled to a computer system bus.Furthermore, any computing systems referred to in the specification mayinclude a single processor or may be architectures employing multipleprocessor designs for increased computing capability.

Embodiments of the disclosure may also relate to a product that isproduced by a computing process described herein. Such a product maycomprise information resulting from a computing process, where theinformation is stored on a non-transitory, tangible computer readablestorage medium and may include any embodiment of a computer programproduct or other data combination described herein.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principallyselected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not havebeen selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter.It is therefore intended that the scope of the disclosure be limited notby this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on anapplication based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodimentsis intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of thedisclosure, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A scanning display comprising: a light sourceconfigured to emit source light from a plurality of columns of emittersthat are formed along a first dimension, the plurality of columns ofemitters including a first column of emitters that emit in a first bandof light, and a second column of emitters that emit in a second band oflight, and the first column of emitters is offset in the first dimensionfrom the second column of emitters by a fraction of an emitter width,and offset in a second dimension that is orthogonal to the firstdimension by a distance that is greater than the emitter width; aconditioning assembly configured to condition the source light; and ascanning mirror assembly configured to scan the conditioned source lightalong the second dimension to generate a portion of an image at a firstlocation, wherein the portion of the image has a resolution that is morethan a threshold number of emitters in a unit angle in at least thefirst dimension.
 2. The scanning display of claim 1, wherein emitters ofthe light source are selected from a group consisting of: light emittingdiodes (LEDs), organic LEDs (OLEDs), microLEDs, lasers, vertical-cavitysurface-emitting lasers, or some combination thereof.
 3. The scanningdisplay of claim 1, wherein the first band of light is different fromthe second band of light.
 4. The scanning display of claim 1, whereinthe first band of light is the same as the second band of light.
 5. Thescanning display of claim 1, wherein the emitter width is a length of anemission surface of the emitter along the first dimension.
 6. Thescanning display of claim 5, wherein the emission surface is circular.7. The scanning display of claim 1, wherein a resolution in the seconddimension of the portion of the image is more than a second thresholdnumber of emitters in a unit angle.
 8. The scanning display of claim 1,wherein conditioning the source light comprises at least one ofcollimating the source light, focusing the source light, andtransforming the source light.
 9. The scanning display of claim 1,wherein the first location is an entrance to a waveguide of a near-eyedisplay (NED).
 10. The scanning display of claim 1, wherein the offsetin the second dimension is further greater than a length of a column ofemitters.
 11. A scanning display comprising: a first light sourceconfigured to emit source light in a first band of light, the firstlight source including a first plurality of columns of emitters that areformed along a first dimension, the first plurality of columns ofemitters including a first column of emitters and a second column ofemitters, and the first column of emitters is offset in the firstdimension from the second column of emitters by a fraction of an emitterwidth, and offset in a second dimension that is orthogonal to the firstdimension by a distance that is greater than the emitter width; a secondlight source configured to emit source light in a second band of light,the second light source including a second plurality of columns ofemitters that are formed along the first dimension, the second pluralityof columns of emitters including a third column of emitters and a fourthcolumn of emitters, and the third column of emitters is offset in thefirst dimension from the fourth column of emitters by a fraction of theemitter width, and offset in the second dimension by a distance that isgreater than the emitter width; a conditioning assembly configured tocondition the source light from the first light source and the sourcelight from the second light source; and a scanning mirror assemblyconfigured to scan the conditioned source light along the seconddimension such that source light from the first light source overlapswith source light from the second light source to generate a portion ofan image at a first location, wherein the portion of the image has aresolution that is more than a first threshold number of emitters in aunit angle in at least the first dimension.
 12. The scanning display ofclaim 11, wherein emitters of the first light source and the secondlight source are selected from a group consisting of: light emittingdiodes (LEDs), organic LEDs (OLEDs), microLEDs, lasers, vertical-cavitysurface-emitting lasers, or some combination thereof.
 13. The scanningdisplay of claim 11, wherein the first band of light is different fromthe second band of light, wherein the portion of the image is formedfrom light in the first band and light in the second band.
 14. Thescanning display of claim 11, wherein the emitter width is a length ofan emission surface of the emitter along the first dimension.
 15. Thescanning display of claim 11, wherein a resolution in the seconddimension of the portion of the image is more than a second thresholdnumber of emitters in a unit angle.
 16. The scanning display of claim15, wherein the first threshold number is 1 active emitter per 2arcminutes of solid angle, and the second threshold number is 1 activeemitter per 2 arcminutes of solid angle.
 17. The scanning display ofclaim 11, wherein conditioning the source light comprises at least oneof collimating the source light, focusing the source light, andtransforming the source light.
 18. The scanning display of claim 11,wherein the first location is an entrance to a waveguide of a near-eyedisplay (NED).
 19. The scanning display of claim 11, wherein the offsetin the second dimension between the first column of emitters and thesecond column of emitters is further greater than a length of a columnof emitters.
 20. The scanning display of claim 11, wherein theresolution in the first dimension of the portion of the image is basedin part on a combination of: a timing of scanning of the conditionedsource light along the second dimension by the scanning mirror assembly,the offset between the first column of emitters and the second column ofemitters formed along the first dimension in the first light source, andthe offset between the third column of emitters and the fourth column ofemitters formed along the first dimension in the second light source.